Existing systems composite multiple layers of raster or vector image content to produce a final image. Typical scenarios include a user zooming or panning an image of a map, where each frame requires the composition of multiple image layers (e.g., up to twenty or more in some examples) having differing resolutions. As shown in FIG. 1, with existing systems, each of the image layers is upsampled to the size or resolution of the final image. As such, the performance of existing systems degrades linearly with each additional layer to composite as each of the pixels in the final image are adjusted with the processing of each of the layers. Accordingly, many existing systems fail to provide smooth, animated navigation across zoom/pan states while providing a crisp composite image having the proper image data for any of the given zoom/pan states.
Some other systems improve the frame rate by relying on fast hardware (e.g., dedicated graphics processors and memory) to perform the rendering. However, only computing devices having the specific hardware needed for such systems benefit from these implementations. Additionally, because the rendered frame rate degrades linearly with each additional layer, frame rate performance declines as additional layers are processed even with hardware-accelerated rendering.